Astana are the only team to have made the final podium of the past three Grand Tours with Vincenzo Nibali second at last year’s Vuelta a España and recent winner of the Tour de France. With Fabio Aru in third place, the Kazakh outfit also showed its depth at the Giro d’Italia.
Can a young man succeed to 42-year old Chris Horner in Spain? If anyone, Aru leads the charge against a hot favourite who was also born in 1990. Giro winner Nairo Quintana and the Italian are expected to fight again at the eight uphill finishes scheduled in the 69th Vuelta a España.
“I just returned home from the Tour de Pologne, which was an important race in my lead up to the Vuelta”, Aru declared. “The Vuelta is the goal of the second half of the season for me. I’m excited and I’m looking forward to it since it’ll give me the opportunity to race against so many champions even though I’ve never done two Grand Tours in a single season up to date.”
Following a break post-Giro, Aru spent four weeks in July training in altitude in Sestrière with his guardian angel Paolo Tiralongo who will captain the Astana team at the Vuelta as well at the age of 37. “What I’ve done at the Giro belongs to the past so I’ve resumed training seriously for my future”, Aru explained. “I still have a lot to prove and a lot to learn but I’ll go to the Vuelta with the same state of mind I had at the beginning of the Giro: without any precise goal but the firm intention to give my best, as always.”
“I don’t want to call it a season because I’ve done well at the Giro”, said the winner of stage 15 to Plan di Montecampione. “There are still great races to take part in and I’d like to repeat some of my performances.”
Aru however seems to be impressed by the start list of the Vuelta a España. “It’s an honour to race against Chris Froome and those guys”, added the Sardinian with a hint of admiration also for FDJ.fr’sThibaut Pinot who preceded him on the record books of the Girodella Valle d’Aosta-Mont Blanc in 2009. The provisional start list is full of exceptional Under 26 GC contenders with WilcoKelderman (Belkin), Rohan Dennis (BMC), NatnaelBerhane (Europcar), Kenny Elissonde (FDJ.fr), Warren Barguil (Giant-Shimano), Peter Kennaugh (Sky), Esteban Chaves and Adam Yates (Orica-GreenEdge), Carlos Verona (Omega Pharma-Quick Step), recent Tour of Denmark winner Michael Valgren (Tinkoff-Saxo), Merhawi Kudus (MTN-Qhubeka) who will be the youngest participant at the age of 20, all against the leader of their generation Nairo Quintana (Movistar) who was also born in 1990 like Aru and Pinot.